Rams stop Hawks Defense marks Bangor victory

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BANGOR – Over the past several seasons, Roger Reed has cobbled together varied basketball lineups.

Sometimes, his Bangor High squads have had plenty of shooters. Sometimes they’ve had a lot of size. Some years, they’ve been very, very quick.

But year after year, Reed’s Rams have done one thing exceedingly well no matter what: They’ve defended. Especially when it counts.

On Wednesday night, the Rams put together another workmanlike defensive effort, survived a sub-par 39 percent shooting effort, and came up with some big stops down the stretch en route to a 56-46 win over the Hermon Hawks.

“Tonight we played in spurts,” Reed said after his Class A Rams had improved to 11-1. “They’re a good team, and they play best against us.”

The Class B Hawks, who dropped to 8-8, pulled within four points in the closing minutes, as Ron Lane converted a Ryan Garland feed into a hoop at the 2:38 mark that made it 50-46.

The Rams never let Hermon score again.

Hermon had some chances after that, but a player-control foul and an illegal screen call in the final two minutes snuffed out possessions that could have shrunk the deficit further.

And when the Rams finally did make their move, it came not on a big shot, but a defensive gem in the final minute.

Josh Johnson, who was inserted in the lineup in the second quarter to slow Hermon star Garland, stole the ball near midcourt and was immediately fouled.

He canned both free throws to push the bulge back to six with 39.5 seconds to play. Bangor iced it with a breakaway layup, two more free throws … and two more defensive stops.

“I came around a screen and [Garland] had the ball,” Johnson said. “I ended up outside of him, so when he put the ball down, I was right there for the steal.”

Senior star Joe Campbell finished with 15 points and 18 rebounds for the Rams and Jim Shea tossed in 18 points of his own.

Hermon coach Rick Sinclair said the move to put the rugged Johnson on Garland paid off, especially in the second quarter as Bangor outscored his team 18-8.

“Johnson is a real special athlete,” Sinclair said. “He’s probably stronger than anybody Ryan’s faced. But also, in that second quarter, we didn’t execute very well.”

The Rams deserved some credit for that, too, as they ratcheted up the ball pressure in their half-court man-to-man set and forced seven turnovers in the period.

Garland finished with 20 points and nine rebounds, but had to work hard to get an open look at the hoop after scoring seven in the first quarter.

“The main thing is, you just want to pressure all his shots and not let him get anything easy,” Johnson said. “Make him hit a jump shot over your hand.”

Lane added nine points for the Hawks and held the high-scoring Campbell to a 6-for-13 shooting night.

Shea provided a tough matchup for the Hawks, as he was able to drive past his defender, stop, and can short jumpers all night.

“Once I got working into the game I felt like I could take him to the hole if I wanted to,” Shea said. “I was feeling in a groove.”

Shea scored 11 of his 18 in the second half, including back-to-back 12-footers that ended a 5-0 Hermon run and pushed Bangor’s lead back to 43-32 late in the third period.

Rams 56, Hawks 46

Hermon (8-8) Bangor (11-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Schacht 4 5 0 1 8 Vanidestine 2 10 0 0 6

Kenney 1 3 0 0 2 Ray 4 7 9

Miller 0 0 0 0 0 Shea 7 12 18

Garland 6 16 7 7 20 Anderson 0 0

Watson 0 1 0 0 0 Campbell 6 13 2 2 15

Shaw 2 4 0 0 4 Johnson 1 8 2 4

Lane 4 7 1 2 9 Bouchard 0 1 0

Ouellette 0 2 0 0 0 Flynn 2 5 4

Moulton 1 2 1 2 3

Totals 18 40 9 12 46 Totals 22 56 11 56

Hermon 15 23 32 46

Bangor 14 32 43 56

3-pt. goals: Hermon (1-7): Garland 1-6, Shaw 0-1; Bangor (4-8): Vanidestine 2-4, Ray 0-1, Shea 1-1, Campbell 1-1, Johnson 0-1

Attendance: 250 (est.)